Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-10-01


/ father by her side walking down the street,
an armed police at each corner, is not so
well defended as that Christian woman who
! goes forth on gospel work into the haunts Of
! iniquity, carrying the Bibles and bread. God,
with the red right arm of his wrath omnipo-
tent, would tear to pieces any one who should
offer indgnity. He would smite him with
| lightnings, and drown him with floods, and
swallow him with earthquakes. and damn
him with eternal indignations. Sons one
Christian woman teaching those bad boys
in the mission school. Z am afraid to
have her instruct them" $50 said
another man, II am afraid, too" Said the
first: II am afraid they will use vile language
before they leave the place" "Ah," said the
other man, II am not afraid Of that. What
/ am afraid of is that if any of those boys
should use bad word in that presence the
other boys would tear him to pieces and kill
him on the spotn That woman is best shell
tered who is sheltered by the Lord God AL
mighty, and you need never fear going any
where where God tells you to so.
1t seems as if the Lord had ordained woman
| for an especial work in the solicitation of
| charities. Backed up by barrels in which
there is no -four, and by stoves in which
there is no fire, and by wardrobes in which
| there are no clothes, a woman is irresistible;
passing on her errand, God says to her: You
| go into that bank, or store, or shop, and get
] tine money. DIc HOeS III anu SelS III. Iuo
| man is hard listed, but she gets it. She
could not help but get 1t. 1t is decreed from
eternity she should get it. No need of your
| turning your back and pretending you don't
hear: you do hear. There is no need of your
saying you are begged to death. There is
no need of your wasting your time,
and you might as well submit first
as last. You had better right away
take down your check book, mark the
number of the check, fill up the blank, sign
| your name and hand it TO her. There is no
need of wasting time Those poor children
on the back street have been hungry long
enough. That sick man must have some
farina That consumptive must have some
thing to ease his cough. meet this delegate
of relief society coming out of the store of
| such a hard listed man, and | say: IBID you
get the moneyf' "Of course" she says, 81
| got the money; that's what went for. The
Lord told me to go in and get 1t, and he never
sends me on fools Grand
Again, | have to tell you that it is
woman's specific right TO comfort under the
stress of dire disaster She is called tha
weaker vessel, but all profane as well as
sacred history attests that when the crisis
comes she is better prepared than man to
meet the emergency. How often you have
seen a woman who seemed to be disciple Of
| frivolity and Incidence, who, under one stroke
of calamity, changed to a heroine. Oh, what
Il great mistake those business men make
| who never tell their business troubles to their
wivesl There comes some great loss to their
| store, or some OF their companions in bust
ness play them q sad trick. and they carry
the burden all alone He is asked in the house
hold again and again: What is the matter2
but he believes it a sort of Christian duty
20 keep all that trouble within his own
| soul Oh, your first duty was to tell
your wife all about it, She perhaps might
| not have disentangled your finances or ex-
/ hut In
helped you to bear misfortune. You have no
light to airy on one shoulder that which is
Intended for two. There are business men
3ere who know what mean There sane e
| brave'y and long, but after while there
came u day when you said: ''Here l shall
| have to stop and you called in your part
| ners, and yon called in the most prominent
men in your employ, and you said: I'VE have
| got TO stop You left the store suddenly.
| You could hardly make up your mind to pass
| through the street and over on the ferry boat.
| You felt everybody would be looking at you
and blaming you and denouncing you. You
FASTENED home You told your wife all about
the affair What did she say. Did she play
the butterfly Did she talk about the silks and
| the ribbons and the fashions! No. She came
up to the emergency She quailed not under
the stroke. She helped you to begin to plan
right away. She offered to go out of the
comfortable house iuto a smaller one, and
wear the old cloak another winter She was
one who understood your affairs without
blaming you. You looked upon what you
thought was thin, weak woman's arm hold
| ing you up, but while you looked at that arm
there came into the feeble muscles of it the
strength of the eternal God. No Gliding.
| No fretting. No telling you about the beau
tifu house of her father from which you
brought her ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.
| You said: "Well, this is the happest day Of
my life. am glad l have gotten from under
my burden. My wife don't care-I don't
care AT the moment You were utterly ex-
| hausted, God sent a Deborah to meet
the host of the Amalekites and scatter them
like chail over the plain. There are some
| times women who sit reading sentimental
novels, and who wish that they had some
grand field in which to display their Chris
| tian powers. Oh, what grand and glorious
things they could do if they only had an OPP
| purtunity! My sister, you need not wait for
any such time. A crisis will come in your
| affairs. There will be ThermopylR in
your own household where God will tell you
TO stand. There are scores and hundreds OF
| households to-day where as much bravery and
courage are demanded of woman as was ex-
hibited by Grace Darling, or Marie Antoi-
nette, or Joan of Arc.
Again | remark it is woman's right to
; bring TO us the kingdom of heaven 1t is
easier for woman to be a Christian than for
man. Why. You say she is weaker. No.
| Her heart is more responsive TO the pleadiugS
| OF divine love. She is in vast majority The
fact that she can more easily become Chris
tian, prove by the statement that three
| fourths of the members of the churches in all
| Christendom are women. SO God appoints
them to be the chief agencies for bringing
this world back to God. / may stand
| here and say the soul is immortal There isa
man who will refute it. | may stand here
and say we are lost and undone without
| Christ. There is man who will refute it.
may stand here and say there will be a Judg-
ment Day after a while. Yonder is some one
who will refute it. But a Christian woman
in a Christian household, living in the
faith and the consistency of Christ's
| Gospel-nobody can refute that. The
| greatest sermons are not preached on cele-
brated platforms; they are preached with an
J audience Of two or three, and in private home
/ ME A consistent, consecrated Christian
service is an unanswerable demonstration Of
| Gods truth. A sailor came slipping down
the ratlines one night, as though something
hal happened. and the sailors cried: whats
the matterin He said: My mothers prayers
hunt me like a ghost.n Home influences,
eonsecrated, Christian home influences, are
! the mightiest Of all influences upon the soul.
/ There are men here to-day who have main
tanned their integrity. not because they were
any better naturally than some other people,